Adoption?

[Summerwood1]

We have had a little boy with us since feb. It was looking like adoption and we were hopefully going to keep him until dad came out of the woodwork and he now wants him. He had a social worker report done on him,it came back that he was unsuitable he then had another done which now says positive! He now has to have assessments to see if he can parent him. In feb we will have fostered for a year. What are our chances of being successful to apply to the courts to keep him our selfs? He is 3 years old and as yet dad has never even met him!

I would say if dad isn't ruled out then very slim as he would need to be considered

If he is ruled out then it depends on his long term care plan.

Thanks,yes I agree.

The LA social workers will have a duty to assess the child's father as to his suitability to care for his son. It seems a bit odd that 2 assessments were done with differing conclusions. IF dad is ruled out, do you know of any other relatives in his extended family who would put themselves forward as the LA also have a duty to see if there is anyone in the extended family, but they have to be considered to be suitable to meet the child's needs. If father has never seen him, then obviously contacts will need to be set up and I think a lot will depend on how those contacts go. The dad will have to understand that he is a complete stranger to the child and will have to try to build a relationship which will probably mean very frequent contact.

Where was the child before he came to you? What of the mother?

Are you new foster carers I wonder. I ask this as sometimes new carers do want to adopt the first child they have, as naturally you form a bond with the child and don't want to see him go, but this is part of the fostering task as short term carers.

I think you need to wait to see what happens with dad and IF it is not going ahead, then you could ask the social workers what their view would be of considering you as adopters. There are many reasons why this would not be best for the child, especially if the birthparents and the extended family live in the same geographical area as you and are aware of where you live. Birthparents are not made aware of where the adopters live as this could cause problems in the future. Also your ages and the ages of your own children if you have them would need to be taken into consideration as you would need to "roll on the tape" to consider the child's whole childhood and what this might mean to your family. Also there will usually be a lot of approved adopters awaiting a young child, and so there would not be any difficulty in placing him. On the other hand he will have made secure attachments with you since February and this will obviously stand him in good stead for the future. I have known foster carers adopt but so much depends on the circumstances.

You can't go to court as you don't have any legal rights over the child a the LA hold the PR and are responsible for ensuring that the child's future is secured in a way that meets all his needs and is in his best interests.